Fort firefighters honored for rescue

It's been almost two years since a construction worker became trapped under rubble from a wall collapse at the old U.S. Disciplinary Barracks complex at Fort Leavenworth.

Today, the man is alive and doing well, according to a fort official.

And members of the Fort Leavenworth Fire Department have been honored with an award for their work in rescuing the man.

John Richmeier

It's been almost two years since a construction worker became trapped under rubble from a wall collapse at the old U.S. Disciplinary Barracks complex at Fort Leavenworth.

Today, the man is alive and doing well, according to a fort official.

And members of the Fort Leavenworth Fire Department have been honored with an award for their work in rescuing the man.

"This is an honor to recognize you guys," Col. Timothy Wulff, garrison commander of Fort Leavenworth, said Tuesday to firefighters who had assembled for the presentation of the award.

The Fire Department received a Department of the Army Heroism Award.

According to an inscription, the award is for superior service, recognizing the firefighters' life saving efforts.

The construction worker, Kevin Butterfield, reportedly became trapped under four feet of rubble when a portion of an exterior collapsed Aug. 29, 2011, at the old site of the USDB.

Fort Leavenworth Fire Chief J.T. Adair said there was a piece of block hanging from the building as firefighters worked below to rescue Butterfield. Three hours later, after firefighters already had rescued Butterfield, the block fell from the building

Adair said the Fort Leavenworth firefighters put their lives on the line to save someone else's life.

Mac McCowen, director of emergency services at Fort Leavenworth, read comments posted to Facebook by Butterfield that expressed thanks to the Fire Department.

"I could never really thank you enough," McCowen said, reading the Facebook comments.

The award was presented to Adair by Lt. Gen. David Perkins, commander of the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth.

Perkins said Americans take their Army for granted. But he tells soldiers this is a badge of honor. He said people elsewhere in the world don't have the luxury of taking their armies for granted because they don't know what those armies will do.

He said Americans also take their firefighters for granted.

Perkins said the Fort Leavenworth Fire Department has a well earned reputation, and this allows people on post to sleep at night without worry.

Adair noted that other agencies provided assistance the day of the rescue including the Leavenworth Fire Department and Leavenworth County Fire District No. 1. Leavenworth County EMS also responded.

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